Should I stay or should I go? Are more Americans considering moving abroad in 2021?

Should I stay or should I go?

Moving abroad has been a dream of mine since I was young, but the last few years have made me wonder if more Americans might also be considering moving abroad in 2021. Perhaps people who never thought it would ever cross their minds.

The US has certainly given its citizens many reasons to go searching for a new global home. Would you like national healthcare coverage? A vaguely respectable leader? Maybe a less violent society? Or more civil interracial relations? Gender equality? Though you may not find one perfect country with all of these on offer, you will find many countries which outperform the US in these areas.

At the time of my departure, I thought of my move as a massive stroke of luck, but I could never have imagined the situation in the US would become so dire. A pandemic out of control, racial tensions, and civil unrest have made me glad to be living in the UK.

But at the same time my desire to be with my family, support my friends, and make a difference in my community is strong. Though I can still stay in touch, living abroad makes it difficult to make a lasting, positive impact on my country and the community I lived in.

Out of curiosity, I reached out to my social media community to see if any of them were now considering their global options for the future. Were they coping in the US? Did they yearn to leave? And what were the things which were driving their desire to leave or stay?

Here are their stories.

Audrey Stevens

International Travel

When I was in college, I decided to study abroad for a summer. I landed in Frankfurt, Germany in the middle of June and spent three weeks at Heilbronn University. I studied during the week and traveled over the weekend with the other students from IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University of Indianapolis).

My study abroad program was not my first experience with international travel. After hosting a Brazilian exchange student for a year in my childhood home, we decided to pay her a visit in her own country my freshman year of high school. My adventure loving family also took me to many other countries around Europe and Central America, only solidifying my love for other cultures and experiences. The pins on my world map have only grown as I have gotten older.

Reflecting on America

Though, as I got older, I noticed myself becoming less and less vocal about being American in my travels. Why would one not want to admit to being from the “land of the free”? In many of the places we visited, I found that they were somehow more free than me in many ways. Sure, the slums of Brazil and the beggars outside of many of large tourist destinations were difficult to see, but they didn’t paint the bigger picture of the country as a whole. The same can be said for America. The bright lights of New York City and the vast depths of the Grand Canyon hide a corrupt government and sad way of life.

America is a beautiful country. It covers thousands of square miles of different elevations, foliage, and waterways. However, this beauty was not made by the people who live here. In fact, America is doing very little in its conservative efforts. If it can’t make money, American politicians won’t care about it.

The past, the present and the future

It’s hard as an American to admit these things, but after educating myself on foreign policies, it is impossible to ignore. The American government is deranged in more ways than one. One thing is constantly being said, with another agenda in the background, hidden from the people. Between the astronomical amounts of money needed to provide basic healthcare and the constant war on civil rights for all people, this country is far from a dream. Our cultural background is killing, lying, and stealing for power, money, and land. That original “American” identity still lives on in America today.

It’s hard to be “proud to be an American”, especially, when we aren’t as free as we’d like to believe. Sure we don’t have a communist government, nor are we plagued with a sinister dictator, but our government is made up of people who have the power and the funds to mislead people, and they do. Don’t get me wrong, there have been and will be good, honest, politicians, but they are so few and far between, it seems impossible to notice them among the others.

America was built with immigrants, yet, now, unless you are born and raised here, the country will deport you back to your “home county” regardless of your reasoning. If you don’t or can’t be deported, you run the risk of being placed in cages, separated from you family and basic human rights. The sad part is, you may not even need to be deported, but in the cages you will stay because of the color of your heritage.

When I was in high school, I was told that we are taught history so that it doesn’t repeat itself. Yet, America continues to repeat its mistakes; caring for wealth and power over the people in the country. America has the means to care for its population, but it doesn’t. This is why I find it hard to remain in this country. I will continue my life here but only because this is where my family and friends are. Without them, I’m afraid I would have no reason to stay.

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Keitha

An adventurous beginning

I have always been a bit adventurous. I decided a few years out of high school that I would join the military to see the world and to help pay my way through college. Granted it was peace time, but never underestimate being a soldier who was at Uncle Sam’s beck and call. I always say if the military decides at 3 in the morning they need someone with your expertise to go to Timbuctoo and you fit the bill they wake you up and send you. No questions allowed.

I did enjoy my time in the Army. I was a young woman working with mostly young men. Coming from a family of three girls I did not have much experience working so closely and living in a barracks with men. I learned a lot. I enjoyed getting to know people from all over the world and people of different races. I was stationed in Germany for my first duty stations and I had a great time. When I met my ex-husband (a Black man from the East Coast) I got out of the military and we spent a few more years in Germany. It was there I began to realize what Universal Health Care was and that it was something the United States needed desperately. I have been hopeful that I will see some form of Medicare for all in my lifetime – I’m 59 so hurry up USA.

Today’s reality

Fast forward to the present. I am back in my hometown, divorced after over 30 years of marriage, semi-retired after working very hard at one job for over 20 years. I’m currently on Obamacare-ACA health insurance, though I hope to be able to get on VA health insurance next year. There is a nationwide pandemic and the US has been through a tumultuous 4 years of political upheaval and an incompetent narcissist, psychopath as president. To add insult to injury, half of the US citizens, including many of my family members, continue to support this dictator wannabe and voted for him. Now the Supreme Court is hearing evidence to possibly over turn the ACA with no other plan to replace it.

Coping through regular extended travel

I spent a month this summer house sitting in Cancun Mexico. One of my cousins lives there, so I had someone to help me out. Even in the midst of the pandemic, I once again reveled in being around people who were so different from me. I enjoyed learning to navigate the public transportation system, learning a new language. I have a passport and I’m waiting for Covid numbers to go down a bit and I am thinking about my next adventure. New Zealand, perhaps? I really like their president.

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Jackie

Fight or flight

The urge to roam has always been a part of who I am! I was dumbfounded in 2016 when I saw the election results. I was equally dumbfounded when peers announced they were leaving the country. As if that would benefit any of those that his presidency endangered.

I don’t see Trump as “the problem” I see him as “the symptom”. Third wave feminism (as in we have already tried this twice) was when we finally started to include women of color and those whose gender identity or sexual orientation wasn’t what we found openly palatable. As a child of the 80’s and 90’s I feel a lot of personal responsibility for the lack of inclusion in the fight for equality. It is usually my generation saying “no one should be racist, but why do ‘they’ have to make it about their race”. And for years, I just saw those statements as isolated and not applicable to the general public.

Reality check

It wasn’t until I left a very diverse area and moved to rural America that I was aware of how alive and well racism was in our country. I grew up hearing “injustice anywhere”… and I assumed we all believed that. When Trump became the president elect, it was like I had just found out that my favorite relative was a white supremacist. Except it wasn’t just that one Uncle at Thanksgiving, it was the whole fam, and my children were more uncomfortable than I was because they saw what I was blind to. So while Europe sounds so appealing, (and is still on my list of future addresses) I will stay here and work to fix what I allowed to be broken. Until I can tell my children that my generation showed up late, but we worked hard once we got there. I’m staying put!

Follow your heart

While I don’t really see myself as someone “endangered”, I wholeheartedly agree that women in general are harmed by Trump idealism. If I were younger, I don’t think I would stick around and fix what others had broken. Or maybe I would, who knows? But I do believe people have to make the best choice for themselves and place themselves where they can do the most good, with no guilt attached! My sister has moved abroad and struggles with the guilt of “abandoning” her country. But at 22 she will do greater things in places that ignite her passions!

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Will you stay or will you go?

I pose this question with an attitude of curiosity. Though I love my life abroad, I do have mixed feelings about leaving the US. With the events of the last few years, I wondered if more and more Americans were developing strong opinions on the matter.

This sort of post is limited in a few ways – the small number of people represented, the fact that they all come from my social circle, and the hypothetical nature of the question. Moving abroad is difficult logistically and even if everyone wanted to move abroad, there may be no legal way to do so.

But stripping it of its complexities, and in the spirit of starting a conversation, if it were possible, would you move abroad in 2021? Share your story in the comments. I would really enjoy reading your thoughts on this crazy world and where you think you might find what it is you’re looking for.  

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